彌勒=Maitreya; 彌勒菩薩=the Boddhisattva Maitreya; 彌勒造像=statues of Maitreya; 彌勒三部經思想內涵=the ideas contained in three Maitreya sutras; 彌勒淨土=the pure land of Maitreya
Maitreya Sūtras are classified either into three or six works. The present thesis adopts the classification of the Japanese scholar of Buddhism and Buddhist art, Ono Genmyo (1883-1939), and chooses the classification into three set out in his article “Exegesis of Three Maitreya Sūtras” found in Volume 14 of the Large Tripiṭaka (Sūtras Section 1) and published in the Great Corrected New Edition of the Tripiṭaka. The three are Kumārajīva’s translation of “Buddha pronounces the Sūtra of Maitreya’s coming to earth and his becoming a Buddha”, and of “Buddha pronounces the Sūtra of Maitreya’s Attainment of Buddhahood” and Juqu Jingsheng’s translation of “The Buddha pronounces observing the ascending of the Boddhisattva Maitreya to the Tuṣita Heaven”. My thesis provides a detailed translation of the three texts and a study of the important ideas contained therein. Buddhism is not only a form of religious faith. It is also a way of living that sets out important goals for practice and education. Likewise, it is a philosophy of life that is simple and easy to understand. The Buddhist classics are the fruit of the great virtue of previous teachers. Left to us by ancient worthies, they are the chief support for solid wisdom, transmission of texts, and a faith that comes with our culture. The doings of Maitreya, transmission of faith in Maitreya, making statues of Maitreya and the ideas contained therein all deserve further study in depth. Moreover, in the three Maitreya sūtras chosen for study, important Buddhist concepts are presented, such as the Four Noble Truths, dukkha (suffering), sūnya (emptiness), anicca (impermanence), anātmavāda (no-self doctrine), pratiya samutpada (nexus of conditioned origination), the six pāramitā, the Noble Eightfold Path, the 37 Links of bodhi-pakṣika, nirvāṇa: life and death, samādhi and release, the pure land of Maitreya, the pure land of the Tuṣita heaven. All of these can be studied in detail and enter into the mind and life of each person. Everyone longs to be born or to live in a sacred pure land and in a world of perfect happiness, but in fact we live in modern society, a world of utilitarianism, of the bad habits engendered by greed, hatred and delusion which is always all around us in our social environment. How the important teaching of the Buddhist classics can be realised in the human mind is something that is an important issue requiring effort for today’s society, and the people of the world. From there we can move on to an ideal world.
